Smoking Grain

A friend and I want to make a smoked beer. I want to smoke my own grains as I have a large smoker.
So;
What kind of wood do I use and what temp for how long?
Should I smoke the whole grain bill or just a pound or two?
Have anyone done this before and if so could you post a 5 gallon recipe

Thanks,
Tom

I've smoked my own grains a few times. The beer turns out great. Here's how I do it.

To make it a Rauchbier, I smoke 6 lb of the malt on my Weber Bullet Smoker for 4 hr using 4 fist-sized chunks of oak. Oak is a fairly mild smoking wood and it's what I always have on hand. The way I do it, the smoker temp never gets above 175.

Here's my Bullet Rauchbier recipe:

4 lb Pils
4 lb Munich
1.5 lb Vienna
1 lb Crystal 20
0.5 lb Carapils
1.5 oz Tettnager (60 min)
0.75 oz Tettnanger (20 min)
0.75 lb Tettnager (2 min)
1 tsp Irish moss (15 min)

Mash at 152oF for 90 min, ferment at 48-52oF for 14 days with Saflager S-189, lager as usual.

The beer is good and smokey.

OK I'm confused. You say you smoke 6# yet you show 4# of Pils and 4# of Munich. You smoke 6# of what grains in your recipe?

Tepe said:

OK I'm confused. You say you smoke 6# yet you show 4# of Pils and 4# of Munich. You smoke 6# of what grains in your recipe?

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When I get my grains from the LHBS I get them all combined into usually 2 -3 large ziploc bags. In this case, I weigh out 6 lb of that 11 lb of mixed grain into a couple large disposable aluminum pans with many, many holes punched in them that have both lined with wire screen. 6 - 7 lb is about all I can get into them (3 - 3.5 lb per pan). In the past I used a couple muslin bags instead but I don't think they did as good a job, smokeyness-wise.

I suppose if you have a bigger smoker and can use big and/or more pans, you could smoke more grain. I am fine with this fairly high level of smoke.

I reuse the pans and screens.

I hope that helps.

I'd start easy on smoking them to ensure you don't end up too smokey. I used a lb of smoked briess (can't remember specific name offhand) in my last pm. That 1lb yielded a very smokey flavor.

I soak a few pounds of base malt in distilled water until it sinks, I then drain it well and put it in the smoker at 225° for 2.5 hrs or until completely dry, lately I have been using pecan wood, as I find it gives me a nice mild flavor.

I keep the malt in a vacuum bag until needed, in a typical recipe I use a pound of smoked malt and get a nice flavor without being overwhelming.

Check out the recipe for my smoked RyePA. It's in the pull down recipe list below my avatar.

I used oak and mesquite for that one, but the process is the same.

The classic beer style series of books has a smoked beers book with many recipes and documents different smoking techniques.
It's a good read.

Something to keep in mind is to allow the grain some time to mellow out after smoking it. Smoke it a week or so before you are going to use it to keep some of the harser smoke flavors out of the beer. It would be a PITA to go through all the trouble of smoking a beer then find out it tastes like charcoal.

Get some old metal screen and wet 1#grain for about an hour put on screen ,even out and smoke with any wood ,spray grain with spray bottle.To get technical ,,weigh dry grain ,weigh wet grain ,smoke with alder or beech till grain is dry weight.The smoke flavor comes from the water on the outside evaporating with smoke . After you are done let it sit in an open paper bag for a few days.Smoke up!

Yeah I don't get it. My bong just keeps clogging. Are you guys rolling them up or something?

I've done it before and there was a recent BYO article that outlined how to do it. Both my method and the BYO method are similar to the suggestions listed above. Mist it down with a sprayer filled with distilled water (no chlorine) until it is wet, but not soaked. Smoke with your choice of wood low (~200oF) for ~15-30 mins on some metal screen material (I use aluminum window screen). Put it in a paper bag for ~a week before using.

I like to use Alder Wood at a ratio of 1.5 oz dry wood chips to 1 lb dry grain on an old gas smoker. I like to smoke about 1/3 the base malt with this ratio for my Smokehaus Porter. I presoak the wood for about an hour before use and use a spray bottle to mist the grain. I put a handful of wood chips on the smoker & when the smoke subsides I mist & stir the grain & add another handful of chips. Here are a few pics. Cheers!!!



Aluminum screen.




The coffee can lid makes a nice diverter so the flame (as low as you can get it) doesn't burn the grain.


Smoker in action, with my assistant brewer.